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Share your thoughts about our conversation!Facilitation might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of courage — we do not charge valiantly into battle or wrestle wild animals! — but the closer one looks at it, the more the connection becomes visible.It takes courage to bring a group of people together and challenge them to grow and make progress. It takes courage to stand up and say “I will do this”. It takes courage to ask difficult questions.And it takes courage to get out of our own way — and the group’s.Roi Ben-Yehuda joins me in this episode to dissect what it means to facilitate with courage, why questions are the currency of the courageous, and what he’d plan to say if zombies attacked.Find out about:Why courage has nothing to do with escaping fear, but everything to do with contextualising itWhy open vs. closed questions is an outdated binary — and Roi’s more qualitative alternativeHow collectivism operates as a shortcut to courageHow the magic of workshops isn’t in the content, but in how the group interact with the contentWhat you can do to prevent being triggered out of courageWhere leadership and facilitation intersect — and why collaboration and cocreation are critical to bothDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.LinksWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Next Arrow, Roi’s companyConnect to Roi:On LinkedInOn TwitterSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Share your thoughts about our conversation!Facilitation might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of courage — we do not charge valiantly into battle or wrestle wild animals! — but the closer one looks at it, the more the connection becomes visible.It takes courage to bring a group of people together and challenge them to grow and make progress. It takes courage to stand up and say “I will do this”. It takes courage to ask difficult questions.And it takes courage to get out of our own way — and the group’s.Roi Ben-Yehuda joins me in this episode to dissect what it means to facilitate with courage, why questions are the currency of the courageous, and what he’d plan to say if zombies attacked.Find out about:Why courage has nothing to do with escaping fear, but everything to do with contextualising itWhy open vs. closed questions is an outdated binary — and Roi’s more qualitative alternativeHow collectivism operates as a shortcut to courageHow the magic of workshops isn’t in the content, but in how the group interact with the contentWhat you can do to prevent being triggered out of courageWhere leadership and facilitation intersect — and why collaboration and cocreation are critical to bothDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.LinksWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Next Arrow, Roi’s companyConnect to Roi:On LinkedInOn TwitterSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Share your thoughts about our conversation!Improvisation seems to have an inescapable connection with facilitation. It’s a topic we’ve touched on many times in this podcast but, to really dig into its depths, it made sense to speak with the man who — quite literally — wrote the book on it!Robert Poynton is the multi-talented author of Do Improvise and Do Pause, creator of Yellow (a unique online learning programme), and the fabled On Your Feet experiential workshop studio.In this episode, we explore what it means to improvise — by saying no as much as yes, by learning to trust our embodied instinct and responsiveness, and by trusting that there are no wrong roads in the journey towards facilitating change.Find out about:Why the unpredictable flow of a workshop is the only flow it can realistically takeHow to facilitate with instinct, as well as intellectHow to embrace ideas, challenges, and interruptions in your workshops as creative inputs Why a workshop that meets your expectations may not be so successfulHow to pan for golden nuggets in a stream of silenceWhy Robert disagrees that improv is all about saying ‘yes’What acceptance, rather than agreement, does to transform the roomDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.LinksWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Robert’s websiteThe Everyday Improviser (online course)The Do Books: Do Improvise and Do PauseYellow, Robert’s online learning programmeConnect to Robert:On LinkedInOn InstagramOn TwitterSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Share your thoughts about our conversation!Accessibility — ensuring the spaces we create are open, welcoming, and easy for everyone to join — is a critical, but often neglected, issue in facilitation. It took the rise of online workshops to take accessibility from an afterthought to a main event.But this increased focus on accessibility, long overdue as it was, has proven to be to everyone’s benefit. A rising tide lifts all boats and more accessible workshops help everybody feel included.Marie Dubost has been shouting for accessibility in facilitated spaces for many years and it’s a joy to know that her voice is now being heard. In this episode, we focus on the specifics of how we can make our online workshops more accessible, whilst also touching on some broader reflections on facilitation and inclusivity.Find out about:What percentage of internet users have access needsHow much variation there is in access needs, from colour-blindness to traumasHow to become a proactively inclusive facilitatorWhy accessibility starts long before the workshop beginsThe quick wins you can start practicing today to create greater accessibility in your workshopsWhy accessibility in workshops is more about mindfulness than deep expertise  Don’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.LinksWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.UX Facilitation Hub Connect to Marie:On LinkedInOn TwitterSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Share your thoughts about our conversation!Some of you who listen to this episode will not have been alive for 30 years, which gives Barb Pedersen the wonderful claim that she’s been facilitating since before you were born!Not that she would boast in such a way; Barb’s approach is informed by humility, curiosity, and positivity (as you will quickly come to learn in this episode).Those tenets have served her brilliantly in her three decades of facilitation and, you may not be surprised to hear, she has seen a lot of change in that time. This episode was our opportunity to zoom out and look at the macro changes in facilitation over the course of a working life — as well as the constants and evergreen skills.Find out about:How facilitation has changed over the three decades of Barb’s practiceThe ever-increasing awareness of facilitation within organisationsWhat online facilitation has changed about our work — and which parts remain the sameHow to empower groups to solve individual issues in a workshopWhy great recording and note-taking is an art of synthesis, not verbatim writingWhy prioritising your values and beliefs serves you better than perfecting a facilitation methodDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.LinksWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Barb’s websiteConnect to Barbara:On LinkedInOn TwitterOn InstagramSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Share your thoughts about our conversation!Some episodes of this podcast have an extremely tight focus — a specific topic, inspected under scrutiny. Some episodes are like walks through a beautiful park, stopping and admiring different beautiful moments and places.My conversation with Francis Laleman — a trainer-of-trainers, a facilitation teacher, and an excellent facilitator in his own right — was most certainly one in the latter category. We spent an hour or so weaving our way through big questions and small curiosities. It was a joy and an opportunity for both of us to think more deeply about the fundamentals of our work.Explore the depths of change, the art of not doing anything, and the hidden designs we create in our lives and work.Find out about:Why change is the common goal that links facilitation, training, and coachingWhat Francis aims to achieve by hosting workshops with ‘provocative absence’ and invisibilityWhy the ‘you’ that facilitates a group is unique to each groupHow learning is a cooperative affair and, so, training is a matter of creating readiness for cooperationWhat ‘exformative’ learning and facilitation areTaking inspiration from acting and theatreWhy our view of workshops as singular events can inhibit our effectivenessDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.LinksWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Visit Francis’ website.Connect to Francis:On LinkedInSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Share your thoughts about our conversation!Dance—especially improvised dance—is an arena for deep vulnerability, connection, and growth. It requires careful and considered facilitation, as you may have guessed!Enter, Tom Goldhand! Tom helps participants understand themselves and each other through the power of dance and authentic movement. Perhaps most impressive is how Tom can apply his skills in business settings, offering unique workshops for groups and companies to move their way into new ways of thinking.We had a lot to discuss, which might not surprise you, but we managed to fit so much into this episode. Step up to the stage and enjoy the rhythm of our conversation.Find out about:What every workshop—from dance and improv to corporate clients—has in commonWhy creating a space to share knowledge is very different to teachingHow emergent dynamics in dance workshops reflect wider truths of human connectionWhat happens to individuals and groups when they improviseHow to protect participants from a ‘vulnerability hangover’Why it can be beneficial to think about a ‘good enough’ outcome for your workshopHow ‘movement with awareness’ can make dance feel more accessibleDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.LinksTom’s websiteWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Connect to Tom:On LinkedInOn InstagramSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Share your thoughts about our conversation!Ask a group of leaders about heart connections in their organisations and you will likely be met with raised eyebrows and doubtful looks. Their loss—and Breeze Dong’s gain, as a veritable expert in heart connections in the context of organisational development.Breeze joins me in this episode to unravel the concept of heart connections—explaining what the phrase really means, how companies benefit from encouraging heart connections, and how they’re more important than ever in an age of uncertainty. It’s a fascinating insight into deep truths that might otherwise be dismissed as ‘woowoo’ when taken by name alone.Learn about facilitating inner, outer, and networked connections from a place of meaning in this episode.Find out about:What heart connections are and how we can facilitate them in different environmentsWhy heart connections, grounding, and emotionality need to be flexible in organisationsWhy rational solutions aren’t a cure-all in times of uncertaintyWhy having time and space for self-work is a precursor to forming heart connectionsHow to move groups from being in their heads to being in their bodiesWhat system thinking has to do with heart connectionsHow to balance the needs of a system with the needs of its individual constituentsDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.LinksWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Connect to Breeze:On LinkedInSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Share your thoughts about our conversation!We’ve had plenty of opportunities to practice online facilitation since 2020, but have we reached a plateau? Has complacency crept in?John Chen has been hosting (and training others to host) engaging virtual meetings for longer than many of us have even thought about them! He’s the perfect candidate to discuss this topic.John joins me in this episode to discuss the magic ingredients of online facilitation — and why an overemphasis on tech and tools has led to us abandoning deeper personal and interpersonal engagement.Find out about:What happens in the first minute of virtual eventsWhy John is wary about making tech the main focus of virtual eventsWhy forced-on-camera participants are worse than off-camera participantsWhy engagement is platform-, tool-, and activity-agnosticHow to facilitate tangential conversations — and how to know when to redirect themWhy the chat function in online events is a sacred space of simultaneityBridging the gap between well-run and transformational online eventsDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.LinksWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Author of Engaging Virtual Meetings, published by Wiley and Sonsclick for a FREE ticket to my Engaging Virtual Meetings Conference, every October.Connect to John:On LinkedInOn FacebookOn YouTubeOn TwitterOn InstagramSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Share your thoughts about our conversation!What is it like to be on ‘the other side' of the workshop — to be a participant or a client?This podcast has always focused on conversations with facilitators, but perspectives from clients are just as valuable for understanding our work and processes.Hence, why this episode features Sandy Wilson, Director of Culture and Learning at Insights Learning and Development. In 2021, Insights initiated a company-wide facilitated LEGO Serious Play project, dubbed ‘On Purpose’.I’m shocked that it’s taken me 182 episodes to host an episode from the clients perspective, but it was more than worth the wait. Enjoy a bounty of unique and unmissable insights in this episode.   Find out about:How Sandy (and his organisation) decided to choose LEGO Serious PlayWhat it’s like to lead an organisational project without a clear expected outcomeWhy a focus on identification and exploration was critical to creating changeHow the organisation adopted a snowball-effect of permissionless progressWhy ‘extroverted thinking’ dominates in management structures and how to facilitate the inclusion introverted perspectivesHow they conducted the search for an external facilitator and what made candidates stand outThe struggle to confidently link organisational changes to individual projectsDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.Linkshttps://www.insights.com/ Connect to Sandy:On LinkedInFacebookYouTubeTwitterSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!